STUART — Stuart police on Sunday arrested a man accused of burglarizing a home after the residence’s owner evacuated to J.D. Parker School of Science, Math and Technology for Hurricane Irma, an affidavit states.

Rashaad Kelly, 20, no address listed, was arrested and charged with burglary causing more than $1,000 in damage in a state of emergency.

“This is a person who has no feelings for anybody during a crisis like this,” said Officer Jeffrey Kittredge, Stuart police spokesman. “For somebody to take advantage of somebody who was evacuating for their family’s safety, that’s not a very nice person.”

Investigators went to the home and found a window pried open. The glass had been impacted but not shattered out.

The homeowner came back and determined three pairs of shoes, a Bluetooth speaker, a “hoverboard,” a black backpack and a hat had been taken. Two storm-rated impact windows valued at about $1,000 each also were damaged.

An inflatable flamingo is caught in the bushes on a side road near the entrance of the Vero Isles subdivision on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Vero Beach. A message was written on the inflatable to whoever find it to text a photo of the flamingo.
PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM

Chad Onderdonk (left) struggles to stay on top of an inflatable flamingo as Eric Behymer tries to steer along a waterway in the Vero Isles subdivision in Vero Beach on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017.
PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM

Police Chief David Dyess reported that before Dyess saw Kelly enter an alley, Kelly had a black backpack. Dyess said when Kelly exited the alley, he no longer had the pack.

Kelly initially was released, but when investigators found a backpack in an alley to the rear of an address in the 900 block of Bayou Avenue that matched the one reported stolen, Kelly was taken in to custody.
Inside the backpack was a Bluetooth speaker that the homeowner identified as his.

“The Stuart police department will take … crimes against evacuees seriously,” Kittredge said. “This is behavior that is not acceptable during a state of emergency.”